In 2017, astronomers made history by capturing the first image of a black hole—M87—using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which acted as a planet-sized telescope via synchronized global radio dishes. This initial image revealed a thin glowing ring around a dark center, representing the black hole’s shadow. Recently, researchers, including teams from MIT’s Haystack Observatory, employed the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA) to capture a more extensive view of M87. The new observations, made a year later, showed a larger, fluffier ring that is 50% bigger than previously recorded, indicating the detection of more surrounding plasma.
For the first time, scientists identified plasma from an accretion disk contributing to the black hole’s ring and observed a relativistic jet emanating from it. Researchers utilized very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) to gather radio emissions, enhancing their perspective of the black hole’s characteristics. The addition of the Greenland and ALMA observatories significantly improved the angular resolution of the results. With ongoing observations at different wavelengths, scientists hope to deepen their understanding of the dynamics near black holes and the jets they produce, enhancing our knowledge of these cosmic phenomena.
